Now that sounds like an ambitious twist! My understanding is that the nitrogen fixation is something the people of the era REALLY worried about, and TBH I'm skeptical you can keep food production up and now-labor without it. Curious what you're planning :3
Solar Dreams: a history of solar energy (1878 - 2025)
- Thread starter ScorchedLight
- Start date
-
- Tags
- chile mouchot solar energy
Furthermore, Egan's chicanery in OTL backfired. His initial motivation in the Baltimore mess was to cause a divide between the British interests and their Government and Chile.
Instead, the Baltimore incident poisoned utterly the Chilean government, society and leading classes AGAINST the United States... An attitude that didn't change until well past WWI, when the American investment in the Copper Mining started to soften the Chilean attitudes.
Although not exactly happy, the Chileans have a tradition of RESPECT their treaties and pacts. As such, Balmaceda will follow protocol and inform the British Embassy about the four American Ships announced to be coming WITHOUT asking the British beforehand. On Balmaceda's POV, its basically "An issue between Gringos"....
Wouldn't it be rare that he may politely "Suggest" to the Admiral of the Chilean Navy in command to allow the British to fulfil their role by treaty and to see WHAT happens before taking a choice.
Given things, Egan's custom to "exaggerate" shit in his messages to both his government and the Yank press.....
Things are possibly going downhill here.... The British will not back down from ask the US NAVY to leave.. And the US NAVY, the sailors and their captains will be stoked for forcing the British to respect the Monroe Doctrine......
Oh well...shit happens....
Part 20: The Age of Miracles
April, 1890
London
Morgan Cottrell had stumbled into something big. More accurately, he had stumbled into something bigger still than any of the inventions which he was funding: a new process to profit from these strange times of accelerated innovation. Offering funding for feasible ideas (or, at least, demonstrable ideas) and the means for initial production, while giving the inventors a good deal on the patent's share and profits. He could've hired the inventors directly to work on his projects, as Thomas Edison did in the United States, but Morgan Cottrell knew he wasn't an innovator. He had good business and managerial sense, and could see the potential for profits in the ideas of others, but he wouldn't know how to direct them to make something on his own.
Sometimes, he was saddened by that realization. He wished he could conjure a new mechanism out of his mind, but it didn't work like that. But with the sadness came the realization that many inventions would've been stillborn if he wasn't involved. A deraileur mechanism for bicycle transmissions, developed by a mechanic in Wales, had seen immense success in a matter of months and prompted its inventor to explore a type of bicycle that could be used outside prepared roads. Across the Atlantic, Charles Fritts was in talks with the Mexican government to install automaton beacons along the coast of Baja California, as the lack of moving parts allowed the rather anemic system to operate without supervision for months on end.
He was content in not taking credit for the ideas of others, as he was already profiting from them. He only allowed one exception to this rule: The Analytical-Differential Apparatus (a name suggested by his Chief Engineer, which Morgan immediately adopted) would be his, once it was completed. The data retention system was already completed, as was messenger system between it and the still only partly understood Mill that made the calculation and acted as the brain of the machine.
He shoved those idle ideas aside, as his secretary announced the arrival of his scheduled visit. James Dewar and his lawyer appeared at the arranged hour, precise to the minute. Pleasantries were exchanged, and Morgan's lawyer gave assurances to Dewar's that any idea discussed wouldn't leave this room, should negotiations fail.
They wouldn't, but Cottrell's business lived and died by trust.
- I've replicated the setup created by Augustin Mouchot and the Chileans for the production liquefied air and liquefied oxygen, as your representative could attest in his visit. Augustin is quite open to share his research with anyone interested.
- Of course he is: He and Madame Goyenechea know most of it is protected by patent laws anywhere that matters. I have to respect them for that. - Morgan said.
- As do I, but not for the same reasons. Mouchot even gave me permission to replicate his low-temperature alloys to further test the devices he made. At no cost, mind you.
- And what have you found?
- That the Mouchot-Stirling Process is indeed an economical way to liquefy air, provided an abundant power source such as the sun. Once the alloys are perfected and the system can work for extended periods of time... the industrial implications are hard to assess. From new chemical processes to metallurgical treatments that are now only theoretical, to say nothing of the most esoteric uses.
- And you think that you can perfect these alloys? - Morgan asked, thinking he knew where it was going.
- Not at all. I've examined it and I can see where Mouchot and his team are going. They have the advantage and will solve the problem in one year at most. They will create the industry, and there's little we can do to change that.
- And yet you've come to discuss this with me. Which means that you've something relevant to say.
- Indeed I do: Mouchot can produce liquid oxygen, but he cannot store it. All his experiments in that regard have failed. Imagine trying to keep something at 200 °C without an energy input, and you have the same problem.
- Heat will try to get out. - Morgan said. - Or rather, it will try to get in. - He corrected himself once he remembered his thermodynamics.
- Precisely. And where he had failed, I have succeeded. I have created a process that can insulate extreme temperatures and reduce its exchange with the environment by two orders of magnitude.
- Now that's interesting. Storage and transportation are just as important as production. - He opened a drawer in his desk and produced some papers. - Which means that any further discussion would pass through these. Take it as token of good faith, and read it carefully.
Dewar did so, then his lawyer translated it.
- So... this is your unilateral agreement to not develop any system which are described in the following pages? - The lawyer asked. - Why would you do that?
- Because I need for my... clients, I guess is the word, to trust me. We need intimacy to speak of these ideas. I need my team to assess the ideas to see if they are feasible, and for that I need them to receive details. Maybe you are the trusting types, but I have no way of knowing that. This contract gives you something tangible to open up to those details.
James Dewar was encouraged to fill the paper and then sign it. He did so, still confused by the way Cottrell operated.
Cottrell could see how the man opened up. A bottle with a shell where the air was evacuated, and then mirrored. It was quite simple, but it would stop exchange of heat via contact or convection significantly, and even reduce loss via radiation. A simple idea, but one the missing part in the industry that Mouchot was trying to build in that unforgiving desert.
And with it, a small revenge against Isidora Goyenechea. Morgan Cotrell knew it was a petty thought, but he relished in it for a few minutes.
As the embryo of the Solar Race of the coming decade developed during the 1890s, something of a rivalry was established between the Old and New Worlds. Isidora Goyenecha had fired the first shots by establishing a solid presence of the Franco-Chilena in Europe, charged with protecting intellectual property and to exploit the inventions that were produced in the Atacama desert. Morgan Cottrell, initially lacking the resources to challenge her, countered with a keen eye for potential developments and potential limitations to the technologies produced (it is sadly ironic that he frequently lamented not being an inventor, all the while inventing the Accelerator Investment methodology that would come to dominate intellectual property management in the 20th Century) which he put to good use in several industries.
His association with James Dewar - at the time an accomplished inventor and scientist - would be the single most important development for the Solar industry in the first half of the decade. The synergy between Stirling cryogenics and Solar power generation would set the stage for an explosion in the demand for collectors, concentrators and even cells. In turn, abundant liquefied air and oxygen would change the shape of industry and, indeed, of geopolitics.
London
Morgan Cottrell had stumbled into something big. More accurately, he had stumbled into something bigger still than any of the inventions which he was funding: a new process to profit from these strange times of accelerated innovation. Offering funding for feasible ideas (or, at least, demonstrable ideas) and the means for initial production, while giving the inventors a good deal on the patent's share and profits. He could've hired the inventors directly to work on his projects, as Thomas Edison did in the United States, but Morgan Cottrell knew he wasn't an innovator. He had good business and managerial sense, and could see the potential for profits in the ideas of others, but he wouldn't know how to direct them to make something on his own.
Sometimes, he was saddened by that realization. He wished he could conjure a new mechanism out of his mind, but it didn't work like that. But with the sadness came the realization that many inventions would've been stillborn if he wasn't involved. A deraileur mechanism for bicycle transmissions, developed by a mechanic in Wales, had seen immense success in a matter of months and prompted its inventor to explore a type of bicycle that could be used outside prepared roads. Across the Atlantic, Charles Fritts was in talks with the Mexican government to install automaton beacons along the coast of Baja California, as the lack of moving parts allowed the rather anemic system to operate without supervision for months on end.
He was content in not taking credit for the ideas of others, as he was already profiting from them. He only allowed one exception to this rule: The Analytical-Differential Apparatus (a name suggested by his Chief Engineer, which Morgan immediately adopted) would be his, once it was completed. The data retention system was already completed, as was messenger system between it and the still only partly understood Mill that made the calculation and acted as the brain of the machine.
He shoved those idle ideas aside, as his secretary announced the arrival of his scheduled visit. James Dewar and his lawyer appeared at the arranged hour, precise to the minute. Pleasantries were exchanged, and Morgan's lawyer gave assurances to Dewar's that any idea discussed wouldn't leave this room, should negotiations fail.
They wouldn't, but Cottrell's business lived and died by trust.
- I've replicated the setup created by Augustin Mouchot and the Chileans for the production liquefied air and liquefied oxygen, as your representative could attest in his visit. Augustin is quite open to share his research with anyone interested.
- Of course he is: He and Madame Goyenechea know most of it is protected by patent laws anywhere that matters. I have to respect them for that. - Morgan said.
- As do I, but not for the same reasons. Mouchot even gave me permission to replicate his low-temperature alloys to further test the devices he made. At no cost, mind you.
- And what have you found?
- That the Mouchot-Stirling Process is indeed an economical way to liquefy air, provided an abundant power source such as the sun. Once the alloys are perfected and the system can work for extended periods of time... the industrial implications are hard to assess. From new chemical processes to metallurgical treatments that are now only theoretical, to say nothing of the most esoteric uses.
- And you think that you can perfect these alloys? - Morgan asked, thinking he knew where it was going.
- Not at all. I've examined it and I can see where Mouchot and his team are going. They have the advantage and will solve the problem in one year at most. They will create the industry, and there's little we can do to change that.
- And yet you've come to discuss this with me. Which means that you've something relevant to say.
- Indeed I do: Mouchot can produce liquid oxygen, but he cannot store it. All his experiments in that regard have failed. Imagine trying to keep something at 200 °C without an energy input, and you have the same problem.
- Heat will try to get out. - Morgan said. - Or rather, it will try to get in. - He corrected himself once he remembered his thermodynamics.
- Precisely. And where he had failed, I have succeeded. I have created a process that can insulate extreme temperatures and reduce its exchange with the environment by two orders of magnitude.
- Now that's interesting. Storage and transportation are just as important as production. - He opened a drawer in his desk and produced some papers. - Which means that any further discussion would pass through these. Take it as token of good faith, and read it carefully.
Dewar did so, then his lawyer translated it.
- So... this is your unilateral agreement to not develop any system which are described in the following pages? - The lawyer asked. - Why would you do that?
- Because I need for my... clients, I guess is the word, to trust me. We need intimacy to speak of these ideas. I need my team to assess the ideas to see if they are feasible, and for that I need them to receive details. Maybe you are the trusting types, but I have no way of knowing that. This contract gives you something tangible to open up to those details.
James Dewar was encouraged to fill the paper and then sign it. He did so, still confused by the way Cottrell operated.
Cottrell could see how the man opened up. A bottle with a shell where the air was evacuated, and then mirrored. It was quite simple, but it would stop exchange of heat via contact or convection significantly, and even reduce loss via radiation. A simple idea, but one the missing part in the industry that Mouchot was trying to build in that unforgiving desert.
And with it, a small revenge against Isidora Goyenechea. Morgan Cotrell knew it was a petty thought, but he relished in it for a few minutes.
As the embryo of the Solar Race of the coming decade developed during the 1890s, something of a rivalry was established between the Old and New Worlds. Isidora Goyenecha had fired the first shots by establishing a solid presence of the Franco-Chilena in Europe, charged with protecting intellectual property and to exploit the inventions that were produced in the Atacama desert. Morgan Cottrell, initially lacking the resources to challenge her, countered with a keen eye for potential developments and potential limitations to the technologies produced (it is sadly ironic that he frequently lamented not being an inventor, all the while inventing the Accelerator Investment methodology that would come to dominate intellectual property management in the 20th Century) which he put to good use in several industries.
His association with James Dewar - at the time an accomplished inventor and scientist - would be the single most important development for the Solar industry in the first half of the decade. The synergy between Stirling cryogenics and Solar power generation would set the stage for an explosion in the demand for collectors, concentrators and even cells. In turn, abundant liquefied air and oxygen would change the shape of industry and, indeed, of geopolitics.
Indeed, his death will change quite a lot, in the coming years and in the coming century.
Indiana Beach Crow
Monthly Donor
He has the idea for the Dewar flask, and more importantly, understands why it's so essential to know.
Liquid air and liquid oxygen started being produced in laboratories in the late 1870s. By the 1880s, there was a race of sorts to produce ever increasing quantities under high pressures. James Dewar himself would develop a method that yielded industrial quantities of liquid gases in 1891.
The main difference between the state of the art and the discovery in the Atacama desert is that Mouchot stumbled upon a way to liquefy gases at normal conditions, ditchibg the need for high pressure systems.
Without a reliable storage method, it isn't very useful. With it, it opens the possibility for extremely reactive chemistry. It could combust impurities during steelmaking, increase temperatures in furnaces, and provide better control for heating processes. It has biological uses that could impact aquaponics in the future, and medical uses that go beyond breathing aids. It would drastically improve the performance of any combustion engine.
Liquid nitrogen would also allow cryogenic quenching to create extremely hard steels, and shrink fitting fabrication techniques would open interesting construction possibilities for machinery and engineering.
And the supercooling was the combination of using the old school solar tech here with a Sterling engine, right?
Yes. Running a Stirling engine in reverse causes to act like a heat pump. Stirling cryogenesis is the preferred method to reach temperatures in the 20 K range.
This method was discovered by accident while trying to hook up two Stirling engines.
However, that's not going to happen with 19th century technology.
Ah, all righty then! Was just making sure I was understanding all of this correctly. This is a very fun world you've made and alot of possibilities here.
Well, until the engine caught on fire...there's a reason that oxygen isn't all (that) used in engines outside of rocket engines, after all. Adding storage and feeding methods increases complexity, and oxygen itself is a hard beast to work with (not to mention there is a performance counter-effect if you use LOX for much of your oxidizer, since now you have to transport a lot of mass on your vehicle instead of being able to use the air all around you). Unless you really need the performance and don't have any other options, people are probably not going to use oxygen for this purpose, just as they didn't IOTL
Indeed. Liquid Oxygen isn't a magic bullet and people will realize that it won't be very efficient to use it as an oxidizer in vehicles, something that would be evident by doing some basic stoichiometry. Given its reactivity, injecting pure oxygen to a locomotive boiler might result in the locomotive to start combusting the iron itself.
At the same time, earlier Stirling cryogenics combined with cheap ( and more importantly, "use it or lose it"-type, which puts incentives into keeping the solar devices doing stuff) energy generation in insolated zones will result in wider availability and lower production costs. Consumption will increase in comparison to OTL, and processes that would've been prohibitive would be more feasible ITTL.
But if someone wants to go crazy and boost a train until it fails, the possibility is there.
Oh....I know it is a bit too far down the timeline, but does the last sentence mean that any market gains due to additional advancement in electric cars ITTL being quickly canceled out by the much more improved ICE?
In the era of record breaking process, there's no doubt the fastest man alive will have an oxygen powered train.